UPDATED WITH ACCEPTANCE SPEECHES: The 19th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards were televised tonight on TNT and TBS live from the Los Angeles Shrine Exposition Center. The casts of Warner Bros’ Argo, PBS’ Downton Abbey, and ABC/Twentieth TV’s Modern Family won. Lead Actor winner Daniel Day-Lewis for DreamWorks’ Lincoln noted that an actor murdered Abraham Lincoln. ”So it’s only fitting that, every once in awhile, an actor tries to bring him back to life again.” For lead Actress, Jennifer Lawrence for The Weinstein Company’s Silver Linings Playbook won and so did Anne Hathaway for Les Miserables and Tommy Lee Jones for Lincoln for Supporting Actor. Is this all a precursor for the Oscars? The SAG Award — called ‘The Actor’ — is presented for outstanding performances in motion pictures and primetime television. The winners for performances in 2012 including the distinctive ensemble awards and the stunt ensemble honors are chosen by two separate film and television nominating panels, each comprised of 2,100 members from across the U.S. that were randomly selected this spring. All eligible voting members of SAG-AFTRA cast ballots by January 25th.

The show kicked off with “I Am An Actor” speeches, a legacy from when the Screen Actors Guild Awards first came on the scene in 1995 and Angela Lansbury’s introductory speech at the ceremony was such a hit that it launched a tradition that has become a highlight of the annual show. This year’s Actors Stories were from Jane Krakowski, Chris Tucker, Helen Hunt, Hal Holbrook, Alfre Woodard, Darren Criss, and Sofia Vergara. Helen Hunt: “I’ve been a waitress, a cuckoo clock, a quarterback and a sex surrogate. I’m Helen Hunt and I’m an actor.” But the funniest was Sofia Vergara who joked that growing up in a traditional Catholic home, her father told her that if she did anything artistic, “I was going to look like a hooker. I told him, “With these huge boobs I inherited, I already look like a hooker.”

This year’s 49th annual Life Achievement Award was presented to TV/movie legend Dick Van Dyke who looked amazingly young but told the cheering and standing crowd, “That does an old man a lot of good. Such a thrill.” He noted that both Carl Reiner and Mary Tyler Moore were both sick with flu and therefore absent. “I’m looking at the greatest generation of actors in the history of acting. You’ve all lifted the art to another place now. If I can refer to you as my peers, I’m a happy man.”

SAG-AFTRA Co-Presidents Ken Howard and Roberta Riordan appeared onstage together during the show. “Hello Mr. President,” Howard said to Reardon. “I couldn’t resist. Landmark year for SAG awards, not just 19th time, but first time since” the two unions united. [...After a bruising multiyear battle.] Now that’s done, Reardon called SAG-AFTRA “the newest strongest union for entertainment and media”.

Jeff Margolis is executive producer and director and his Jeff Margolis Productions produces the awards telecast in association with SAG-AFTRA. Kathy Connell has produced the Screen Actors Guild Awards since its inception and is also SAG-AFTRA’s assistant national executive director of awards and national programming. The Awards Committee for Screen Actors Guild — Chair JoBeth Williams, Vice Chair Daryl Anderson, Committee members Scott Bakula, Shelley Fabares, Paul Napier and Woody Schultz — oversees all stages of the production.

Ben Affleck talked about “the incredible people in Argo, they spoke English and Farsi. One thing that those who spoke Farsi have in common with us is that they wanted to kill to make this movie better. And that’s what actors do all over the world, everyday. We are in your debt.”

Daniel Day-Lewis thanked “all my brothers and sisters in the Screen Actors Guild” and offered his “deepest respect to my fellow nominees.” He said he was sorry that Joaquin Phoenix and fellow cast members who gave their Lincoln characters the “kiss of life” weren’t there. Day-Lewis thanked Leonardo DiCaprio and Liam Neeson for their support. But he unexpectedly drew a big laugh by saying that he set out to perform the role with the Hippocratic oath in mind: “First, do no harm. But then it occurred to me that an actor murdered Abraham Lincoln. So it’s only fitting that, every once in awhile, an actor tries to bring him back to life again.”

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading RoleJENNIFER LAWRENCE / Tiffany – SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK (The Weinstein Company)

Jennifer Lawrence beamed: “Oh my god! This is incredible. Thank you so much. I want to thank MTV, but I’ll explain that in a moment. I earned my SAG card when I was 14. I did an MTV promo Super Sweet Sixteen. I remember receiving the card in the mail. It made me a professional actor, putting me in a category with all of you and now I have this naked statue in front of me. It’s an un-describable feeling. I want to thank David O Russell. You made a movie for your son so he wouldn’t feel alone and misunderstood. And I can speak on behalf of all us: you helped so many sons and daughters. Bradley, my performance wouldn’t be good without you. And Harvey, I don’t even know what to say. You’re a rascal. You’ve nourished the filmmakers that nourish me.”Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting RoleANNE HATHAWAY / Fantine – LES MISÉRABLES (Universal Pictures)

“I’m just so thrilled I have dental,” Anne Hathaway told the crowd. “I got my SAG card when I was 14. It felt like the beginning of the world. I loved every single minute. Thanks, Mom, for voting for me — she’d better have! Hathaway noted that she and her manager have been together “longer than the Beatles”. Says she learned a lot from The Dark Knight Rises that she took to her work on Les Miz. To her husband as to why she loves him so much: “I’ll tell you later.”

The Brits were godsmacked they won. It was the first nomination and first win for the Downton Abbey ensemble cast. Logan spoke for the huge 22-actor group that represents the Downton Abbey cast. Speaking for them was Phyllis Logan, who plays ‘Mrs. Hughes’ and exclaimed: “We are so not expecting this. Shut the French windows!… I’d like to thank the Screen Actors Guild for even bothering to consider us. I’m overwhelmed by it all. If I forget anything, come and whisper in my ear,” she said to her castmates. She thanked creator Julian Fellowes who “started the whole thing going”. She also thanked all the “fellow Downton-ians” who were unable to be there.

This was Cranston’s 4th nomination for the series but his first win. He also was part of the winning ensemble cast for Argo. ”It is so good to be bad,” he quipped in his acceptance speech. “I am so pleased and so honored to receive this award.” Cranston went on to thank AMC, Sony, Breaking Bad‘s writers and directors and crew, and of course showrunner Vince Gilligan and fellow cast members. Cranston’s final thanks went to the SAG committee who “endowed” him with the award, finally. ”Tonight, at least, I am well endowed.”

The win marks Claire Danes’ 2nd. Onstage, Danes joked about SAG’s insistence on referring to everyone as ‘actors’: “I guess I’m an actor, not an actress. That answers that question.” She noted that, “grand spanking new mom,” she has become aware that “it takes a village to raise a child - and the same is true of making a TV series. It means everything to be here with my buddies, my brilliant cast.” Danes also thanked the Homeland producers for giving her a role with “a lot do to. That’s the understatement of my career.”

This is the Modern Family cast’s 3rd consecutive win. Jesse Tyler Ferguson spoke for the group and thanked competitors including Big Bang Ratings – er, Theory.He thanked the departing casts of 30 Rock and The Office, saying he hoped the Modern Family cast could be “half as brilliant and smart and wonderful as you are,” adding: “Except for Aubrey [who plays the very young Lily]. She doesn’t know who any of you are.” He encouraged those actors to apply for jobs on Modern Family. And he joked that his entire cast is indebted to SAG except Ed O’Neill and Sofia Vergara “who I think has a development deal”.

Alec Baldwin exclaimed: ”Oh my God, this is ridiculous. Thanks to Tina. The writers. It’s the end of our show, everybody’s sad about that. Greatest experience I’ve ever had.” Jokes that his CAA agent asked him to say he was “the greatest agent in the history of show business – now that I’m unemployed I’d like to say [he's] the greatest agent in the history of show business.”

This is her 5th win. “Oh, that’s so nice. Thank you for letting me in this union,” Tina Fey said, noting that she shares The Actor with Amy Poehler. “I’ve stolen so many of your moves. I’ve known you since you were pregnant with Lena Dunham.”